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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24108778">A long way ahead...</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/TatianaTova/pseuds/TatianaTova'>TatianaTova</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Their lives, their thoughts [6]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The West Wing</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M, Illnesses</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-05-10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-20 06:33:59</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,728</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24108778</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/TatianaTova/pseuds/TatianaTova</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>They walked together all the way.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Ainsley Hayes/Sam Seaborn</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Their lives, their thoughts [6]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1328711</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>A long way ahead...</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I could not sleep. I re-read what I presently posted and just began to write. Two hours later this is what I got. </p><p>Please review.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>She was seating next to his bed. She did not cry; she no longer could. She no longer prayed because she knew that no one was listening. She just was seating next to his bed. Nurses and doctors were entering at the regular intervals and updating her on his condition. She looked at them and politely answered that she understood. At one point, the hospital minister entered the room and offered her his assistance. She looked at him, but if someone asked her to describe him, she would not be able to do it. She did not see his face. She lost time how long she was seating there. </p><p>Her children came and went. They brought her grandchildren to see grandfather in the hospital. Her daughter asked her to go home and rest for a bit and offered to stay with her father. She thanked her and asked not to worry about her. She continued her vigil. </p><p>She tried not to close her eyes, but she was so tired that her eyes no longer listened to her and closed without her noticing it…</p><p>xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx</p><p>“Hi. I’m Sam Seaborn,” he introduced himself to her and she fell into the sea of his blue eyes. </p><p>“Ainsley Hayes.” </p><p>She lost herself for a minute and eventually destroyed his presentation and contradicted his answers. </p><p>She never could imaging that this democrat would be her life, and love of her life. She did not love him from the moment they met, the way he loved her. Her love came to her gradually, with every kind act, with every verbal sparring, with every memo that she re-wrote for him, with every decision that she made him change. She did not remember when she began to love him, she just knew that she loved him. Her mother told her that her love came to her same way as it came to Elizabeth Bennet, slowly with every honorable act from him. </p><p>She got an incredible opportunity and she had to make her decision to stay or to leave the White House and him. She tried to talk to him, but he was constantly busy and she decided to leave. She was sure that she will not see him ever again, but life is very funny and she ended up with him as her blind date. They both were surprised, but she knew that she would not have the third chance to be with him. </p><p>He was… he was… he was a love of her life…</p><p>xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx</p><p>She opened her eyes and looked at him. He did not move. The machines showed that he was alive, but his hand was so cold. She tried to warm it up with her breath. She kissed his hand. She was hoping that he will respond and will open his eyes.</p><p>xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx</p><p>“I love you. Marry me.”</p><p>She was not sure that she heard him correctly. The ocean was loud: the waves were beating the sides of the yacht; the moving sail was cranking; the seagulls were scrimping trying to reach fish. </p><p>“Sam what did you say?” She asked looking at him with her big eyes. “Did you just asked me to marry you?”</p><p>“Yes, I did. What would you say?”</p><p>“Sam, I am a republican, you are a democrat. Eventually, you will be running for the office. You will have a lot of problems with the republican wife. You don’t need it. I’m fine as we’re right now.” </p><p>“I’m not. I want to be with you all the time,” he said adjusting the heading of the yacht. “I want to go to your family gatherings and I do not want to be introduced as your friend or boyfriend. I want to be your husband. I want to have a home with you, children. I want ‘happily ever’ like in books,” he finished talking looking straight into her eyes. </p><p>“Are you sure?” She asked biting her lower lip. </p><p>“I am. Marry me, Ainsley Hayes, a Republican lawyer, opinionated woman, love of my life, my friend. Marry me. Please…” He stood in front of her and looked her in the eyes. </p><p>“Who can say no to this proposal? Not I. I will marry you Sam Seaborn, a Democratic lawyer, incredible writer, love of my life, my friend. I will marry you.” She kissed him. </p><p>They ended up in the White House again. The preparations for the wedding were a blur. She remembered crying a lot and arguing with her mother. But mostly she remembered him; he diffused explosive situations. He brought her muffins and answered her questions the way she needed them to be answered. He was her rock. She would not be able to do anything if he would not be holding her together. </p><p>Less than a year later they had their first son, withing two years they had tween boys. Sam lost his job trying to help Josh. Josh was dying; Donna was on the verge of losing her sanity. But they survived and Sam managed to get to the bottom of the conspiracy. First time in her life she was ready to quit the Republican party. She could not believe that her fallow members could create such an unholy coup and destroy one of her friends. </p><p>xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx</p><p>“Ainsley, are you OK?” A quiet voice asked her. She felt a hand on her shoulder.  </p><p>She lifted her head from the bed and opened her eye. She tried to focus. She saw Donna standing next to her and Josh in the door.</p><p>“Donna? Yeah, I am fine.” She answered with the voice that contradicted her answer. </p><p>“Ainsley, let Josh stay with Sam, and you and I will go and eat something,” asked Donna removing her hand from Ainsley’s shoulder. </p><p>“I’m fine. He can open eyes at any moment. I want to be here.”</p><p>“Ains, go with Donna. I will call you the second Sam opens his eyes. Eat something,” Josh told her quietly. </p><p>“Josh… I can’t… I must be here.”</p><p>“Ains, he knows that you love him. Can you imaging what he will say when he will wake-up and you are hungry and tired?” Asked Josh with a shadow of the smile. </p><p>“I’m always hungry. He knows it. I will eat when he will bring me a muffin,” said Ainsley with tears in her eyes. </p><p>Eventually, Donna managed to drug her to the cafeteria to eat something. Josh stayed in the room.</p><p>They were seating at the corner table. She was finishing her tea; she closed her eyes for a second…</p><p>xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx</p><p>He was ecstatic when she told him that she was pregnant with their fourth child. He was elated when they got a daughter. She was beautiful. She had his sky-blue eyes and strawberry-blond hair. He could not understand why two-and-a-half months old baby in the pink overalls and white bonnet, that was bottle-fed by her mother next to the playground, will have at least a dozen of boys of different ages looking at her and not moving from the spot. Eventually, she explained to him that he better buy a shotgun or become a president to protect her from all the boys. They laughed. But she heard him talking to President Bartlet about the protection of daughters. </p><p>He was so angry when Noah Lyman asked her out. He was ready to kill him. She talked him out of killing a boy if he ever wanted to have grandchildren. She explained to him that their daughter had eyes only for Noah, age difference notwithstanding. He was so happy when his daughter gifted them with three grandsons and one granddaughter. He loved them all, but his only granddaughter stole his heart forever. </p><p>xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx</p><p>She opened her eyes. Donna was looking at her. She saw understanding and total acceptance. </p><p>She returned to his room and her vigil. </p><p>People were coming and going. Doctors and nurses were coming and going. </p><p>She was seating and waiting. He must open his eyes. He must look at her with his sky-blue eyes. Her world cannot crash. He must live because he is her entire world. </p><p>They spent so many years in the White House. He was a speechwriter, Deputy Chief of Staff, special advisor to POTUS. And now when they came back to the White House as the permanent residents for the next four years, he could not leave her, he simply could not. She needed him. She needed him more than air itself. He was her life; she was his life. </p><p>She was seating next to his bed… She could not cry… She could not pray… She looked at him. Took his hand and simply asked, “Sam, please open your eyes.”</p><p>She was quiet for a few minutes. She added, “Please… Do it for me. I love you, Sam Seaborn. Please open your eyes. I. NEED. YOU!!!!” She screamed. </p><p>She screamed nonstop. Nurses and doctors ran to the room. Secret service agents did not know what to do. She was screaming at the top of her lungs. She screamed. The tears were running out from her eyes. She was holding his hand and continued to scream. No one knew what to do. </p><p>No one heard anything, but something had changed. </p><p>One of the machines beeped. He did not open his eyes, but his lips moved. His hand moved too, and his fingers closed around hers. She stopped screaming. She looked at him in total shock. His lips moved again; he tried to say something. She stood up; walked to the head of his bed and bent down putting her ear next to his mouth. </p><p>She was not sure that she heard him, but she heard a whisper, more like a breeze, “Ainsley… I… love… you… I… won't… leave… you…”</p><p>When she looked up, the doctor, that was checking his heart with a phonendoscope, looked at her. </p><p>“He is not out of woods yet, but he has a chance.” He said with the small smile on his lips. “Ma’am, why don’t you go home for a few hours. When you come back, he could be better.”</p><p>She looked at a young doctor. (A young doctor, early 40th. We use to be that young.) She closed her eyes, opened them, and sat down, took his hand, and continued her vigil. She knew that he had a long way ahead of him, and they will walk it together.</p>
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